1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an upright pillar sash which constitutes a member of a door frame of a vehicle door.
2. Description of Related Art
It is known in the art for a sash portion of a door frame of a vehicle door, especially the upright pillar sash (side sash) that extends along a center pillar of a vehicle body, to have a structure in which a sash portion is made by joining an outer side (vehicle exterior side) molded part (i.e., an outer member) which is provided with a glass run fitting portion (glass run mounting portion) and an inner side (vehicle interior side) molded part (i.e., an inner member) which includes an inner frame portion that has a box-shaped cross section surrounding the glass run fitting portion to each other. In the case where the joint (joined portion) between the outer member and the inner member is positioned on the sash inner edge portion side that is exposed to the window opening of the door frame, there has been a demand to reduce the amount of projection of this joint into the window opening as much as possible to widen the view at the peripheral edge of the window opening. For instance, in the invention disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication 2008-302788, in the type of upright pillar sash in which the outer member and the inner member are joined together by hemming, a structure reducing the amount of projection of the hemming joint into the window opening has been proposed.
Although the structure disclosed shown in the above-mentioned Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication 2008-302788 is effective in the case where the outer member and the inner member are joined together by hemming, it has been required in recent years to improve the degree of freedom in the shape of the periphery of the joint between the outer member and the inner member to provide a wider view at the peripheral edge of the window opening.